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How do!

So I’m currently on annual leave, and have ordered bits and bobs in for a project or two. This includes a Monolith because I like my chunky stuff, but also some paint for my airbrush, such as The Shifters.

Being a lazy sort, I tend to order from a single source, rather than little from A, others from B. And I’ve found that my usual sources (Darksphere and Element) have fairly patchy stock. Nothing gone gone, just out of stock.

Now there is of course very good reason for that. Two if you count Brexit and it’s ongoing teething* problems. And it got me to wondering if others are having similar difficulties in finding what they want when they want it**

Could be specific manufacturers, could be specific shops, or just in general. Figured it’d make for an interesting bigger picture, and maybe help inform the purchase strategy of others.

*well, we’re assured they’re teething problems. Guess the truth will out one way or another

**look it’s what we’re used to. We are spoiled as shoppers these days.

Well here stock levels are okay. One thing seems to be sure though. Resupplies will take more time and can't count on new stuff being on sale on day of release. Flgs for example didn't get dg stuff in time as brexit induced custom checks caused delays(no idea when they come)

I've found stock patchy this year, which has honestly made me stretch out from just using my normal online stores (Wayland and Firestorm) and to use others. In general shopping around has also found me a few smaller stores including one local one that I didn't even know existed. So I've been able to help out a few smaller stores with purchases and get what I want. Even found a few older things in other model ranges by shopping around.


I think if you shop around you can find a fair bit at present, but that specific things are patchy. Necrons are certainly patchy. That said being in the UK GWs stock at least tends to recover quicker. Smaller game studios I've noticed are having longer gaps in restocking some models and those overseas longer still (which is likely a result of both production pressure and also the general mess of international shipping right now)

Slightly different context but, I've found stocking levels to be terrible for the last 8 months at least.

See, Couple years back I moved off of GW and went back to my scale model hobby, and with "current events" going the way they have, EVERYONE went back to their childhood hobby again.

Tamiya extra thin cement is very nearly like finding gold in California in 1848. There's still quite a bit of paints out there, but I do seem to have to mix and match (ordering from multipe websites) far more than I used to.

As a result, I have on occasion overspent on any given order because I will "need" to buy something now because of the thought that it may not be in stock when I need it later.

Very hit an miss, I've eventually been able to source most of what I was after but it's usually taken longer and/or going to a different supplier

GW has been worse in terms of not supplying stuff it's promised to shops/webstores I buy from

(stuff their GW reps have confirmed as allocated to them beforehand, not just last minute orders of new releases where supply has been patch for the last few years)

and a lot of stuff coming from asia (model kits) has been messed up because of a lack of affordable shipping containers

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55740063

meaning unless they're Tamiya scale business they're holding back resupply stock until they can totally fill a container where as normally they'd be able to pay for part of a container via a shipping agent, but with the limited supply agents just aren't doing that so instead of getting 5/6 supply drops a year stores might only get 1

With Darksphere in particular I've always found their website to be rather unreliable for stock levels. In the past I've gone into the shop only to be told it's out of stock despite having a good few on the website. Wasn't even a one-off to be honest, have had a good few occasions where this has happened.

FWIW maybe give them a call and see if they actually do have it?

My order from Element is currently held up by a set of Vallejo Shifters (my first foray into non-GW paints).

Now I ordered in the full knowledge they were expecting a restock on Friday, so I’m not apportioning blame or having a go at them.

Anyone experienced in Vallejo’s reliability of supply? Kinda hoping it’s only a day or twos delay.

Throughout the pandemic I’ve had a lot of trouble finding certain Army Painter and Vallejo paints, both online and in real life. I finally caved and paid 2-3x sticker price for some paints via Amazon.

I also bought some historical minis with an Amazon gift card, and they arrived almost a month late. My last Miniature Market order is waiting to ship on some Shadows of Brimstone stuff that was supposed to drop in November, then December, now ...March?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
My order from Element is currently held up by a set of Vallejo Shifters (my first foray into non-GW paints).

Now I ordered in the full knowledge they were expecting a restock on Friday, so I’m not apportioning blame or having a go at them.

Anyone experienced in Vallejo’s reliability of supply? Kinda hoping it’s only a day or twos delay.

So, I got my Vallejo shifters off Amazon last summer and supply was low then. The real bottleneck is glossy black, the paint all the color shift paints are supposed to go over. Glossy Black was gone from everywhere except one Amazon seller who charged what he damn well wanted.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
My order from Element is currently held up by a set of Vallejo Shifters (my first foray into non-GW paints).

Now I ordered in the full knowledge they were expecting a restock on Friday, so I’m not apportioning blame or having a go at them.

Anyone experienced in Vallejo’s reliability of supply? Kinda hoping it’s only a day or twos delay.

Isn't vallejo spanish company? So there's all the paperwork checks etc red tape. Def expect longer than usual delays. There's UK companies that have been trying to get their products to EU for weeks now with no luck.

I believe Vallejo also put some of their machines over to soap production into small bottles for the pandemic. I've no idea if they've relented on that or if they've retained production into this year. If they have then they are likely underproducing compared to normal which might affect restocking.

My lgs has gone a bit off the boil this lockdown sadly. Not responding to messages and the like.

So have just ordered a paint restock from a vendor on a famous auction site. I did notice a fair few paints were listed as out of stock.

tneva82 wrote:

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
My order from Element is currently held up by a set of Vallejo Shifters (my first foray into non-GW paints).

Now I ordered in the full knowledge they were expecting a restock on Friday, so I’m not apportioning blame or having a go at them.

Anyone experienced in Vallejo’s reliability of supply? Kinda hoping it’s only a day or twos delay.

Isn't vallejo spanish company? So there's all the paperwork checks etc red tape. Def expect longer than usual delays. There's UK companies that have been trying to get their products to EU for weeks now with no luck.

Guess it depends how Vallejo sells to U.K. stockists?

If they’ve a single approved distributor, then there’s a chance the stock is sitting in a U.K. warehouse, and it’s a short delay. If it’s direct, then it’s just another Brexxy Bonus of these sunlit uplands we’re apparently living in.

Vallejo paint has at least one UK importer in http://www.creativemodels.co.uk/paints_pigments_acrylics-c-5_11.html (but there may be more)

Not paints but cannot find UK 36inch Greenstuff anywhere and for a sculptor like me that sucks!

Got it from Outside UK but was HIT with stupid shipping costs.

Welcome to Brexit.

Oh an not paints again or hobby related but just received newsletters from food suppliers importers that loads of products are discontinued since they are no longer profitable to import.
So not stock issue its actually discontinued.

Hah yes I had trouble getting hold of green stuff too.

In the wider modelling hobby I've struggled sourcing some Japanese-origin paints and spray cans (Tamiya, Mr Hobby) - shouldn't have to go onto page 3 or 4 of Google going through retailers to try and find fairly common paints and hobby materials.

I don't know if this is due to hold-ups at customs of goods coming into the UK due to Brexit or more generally due to Covid-related problems worldwide.

 Pacific wrote:
Hah yes I had trouble getting hold of green stuff too.

In the wider modelling hobby I've struggled sourcing some Japanese-origin paints and spray cans (Tamiya, Mr Hobby) - shouldn't have to go onto page 3 or 4 of Google going through retailers to try and find fairly common paints and hobby materials.

I don't know if this is due to hold-ups at customs of goods coming into the UK due to Brexit or more generally due to Covid-related problems worldwide.

If it's Japanese then unless it's some Japan->EU->UK supply chain issue it's Covid. Brexit shouldn't affect directly anything from outside EU to UK. Only issue would be if the imports come via EU at which point customs, regulations and possibly tariffs(does rule of origin apply for transport inside company? If UK company would first move to own warehouse in EU and then to UK? I would assume yes but not sure) would come to play.

 Pacific wrote:
Hah yes I had trouble getting hold of green stuff too.

In the wider modelling hobby I've struggled sourcing some Japanese-origin paints and spray cans (Tamiya, Mr Hobby) - shouldn't have to go onto page 3 or 4 of Google going through retailers to try and find fairly common paints and hobby materials.

I don't know if this is due to hold-ups at customs of goods coming into the UK due to Brexit or more generally due to Covid-related problems worldwide.

i'd suggest https://www.facebook.com/groups/271077163071577 which is the online arm of https://www.mjrmodelsandhobbies.co.uk/

Many thanks for the tip Orlando I shall give them a try !

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
My order from Element is currently held up by a set of Vallejo Shifters (my first foray into non-GW paints).

Now I ordered in the full knowledge they were expecting a restock on Friday, so I’m not apportioning blame or having a go at them.

Anyone experienced in Vallejo’s reliability of supply? Kinda hoping it’s only a day or twos delay.

In my experience the only difference between ordering out of stock items from Wayland or Element is that Element strings you along with fake restock dates that just get pushed forward a week every week.

In the past when I've had stuff out of stock for a long while at Wayland they've contacted me to offer a refund if I wanted since they'd not managed to order the item in. I declined as I knew it was a slow cast item (casts of classic Spartan models by Warcradle) and was prepared to wait.

Whilst you can end up waiting for Wayland I've always found them polite and easy to deal with. Plus since they did a big update to their site and publish warehouse accurate stock levels now its far more reliable than in the past when there was a grey area as to when things were in stock or out but regularly ordered.


Element I think just has a back-end store system that is set to auto display "restocks" on their weekly restock day regardless of if they've got that item listed for restock that week or not.

I’m finding my local store has longer waits than I would prefer but I am fine with waiting to support my LGS, especially since they are suffering with covid.

They keep less in stock so more has to be ordered

Our local FLGS has been very stock-short since the start of the pandemic. In the 40K arena, they only have in stocks (primaris) marine releases and guard. Very little of any else (Though there's still a Blood of the Phoenix there...).

Miniature Market is my other place to shop and their stock has been hit and miss as well for the games I normally shop - Flames of War, Wings of Glory, Bolt Action and the like. I don't know at what end of the supply chain things have shorted, but it's been somewhat difficult to buy certain models that have been out of stock for months at a time.

About the only thing going strong of late has been D&D 5E.